A large number of visitors thronged the Amar Ekushey Book Fair on Saturday but the sales at the bookstalls at the fairground were not satisfactory, publishers said.
Friday and Saturday were weekly holiday while the nation also observed Basanta Utsab, the first day of spring and Shab-e-Barat, a religious event for the Muslims.
The entry points to the fair saw long queues, mostly queues of youths, thronging the fair premises at Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital.
The venues opened at 2:00pm because of the admission test of Dhaka University but visitors started pouring into the book fair from the morning.聽
Maria, a student of computer science and engineering department of East West University, who came from Bansaree with her sister, said, 鈥業 have collected two books on my list while visiting the stalls, but I have observed that a small number of visitors are collecting books.鈥� 聽
Farhan, who came with a group of people from Azimpur, said that crowds chose the fair as it was a nice place to get together amid security and festivities. 聽
鈥楾he food courts and nicely decorated shops attract a lot of people to visit the fair,鈥� Farhan said, adding that as anyone can buy books online, visitors mainly come to spend time here.聽
Bengal Publications sales person Md Zakirul Islam said that most of the visitors were youths and they came to take photos of books.
鈥榁isitors do not open the books, but pose for photographs which create problems for those who come to explore the books,鈥� Md Zakirul Islam said, adding that the sale rate was too low as expected.
Dipok Karmakar, a salesperson of Bhashachitra said that the sales were increasing gradually.
On the 15th day of the fair, a programme commemorating Syed Ali Ahsan was held on the main stage of the fair.
A commemorative discussion on eminent filmmaker, fiction writer and freedom fighter Zahir Raihan will be held on the main stage on Sunday.
A total of 175 new titles including 70 collections of poems, 25 novels and 18 collections of short stories were published on Saturday, according to the academy officials.
